Bad Guy Walter

Before I begin this post, I will proclaim how much I love my husband and wish him the happiest of birthdays today!!

But....yesterday on the front page of the newspaper, I read some very disturbing news. My husband is destined to be a "bad-boy!" As I reflected on the results of this study reporting that my husband has a name in the Top 10 "bad-boy" names, pieces began to come together.

No wonder Asher often labels himself as the "baddest king." My husband must secretly be encouraging him along these lines behind my back.

No wonder Walter dedicates himself to long hours away from home "studying." He's planning his next bad trick.

And no wonder he attacked our son with bubbles (of all things) at our recent family gathering! He even cajoled his sister to join in on the attack to shift the blame from himself.

After 31 years and the results of this study, my "bad-boy" named husband has been found out!!

Happy Birthday Walter, I hope we can enjoy another year together "on the outside!"

Dr. Asher and Mr. Dinosaur

"Would the mother of the screaming child who refuses to get into the swimming pool please come retrieve her son immediately? And will the rest of you parents please laugh and point while this duo leaves the pool area never to be allowed back again?"

This is how Walter and I imagined the first day of swimming lessons would go today. Asher does not do well conforming to group settings and regularly refuses to speak to adults other than Walter and me (well sometimes he refuses to speak to us too!). This combined with his aversion to putting his face in the water caused us great concern as we expected swimming lessons to be a total flop.

But my little Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde surprised me once again. He did great!!! Even before his allotted time began, he won all the waiting teachers over with his smile and sweet answers to their questions. When they asked him to get in the water, he complied. When they wanted the swimmers to hold onto the wall and kick, Asher's splashes outdid them all!

As I watched from my lounge chair, hardly able to keep my head from shaking in amazement, I beamed with pride. He can participate in a group setting. He can obey a teacher. And he may just even learn how to swim!

But we do know his little secret. He may be a good performer and put on a good act in front of other people.
My little Dr. Asher
But at home, his inner-dinosaur becomes unleashed!
My irresistible Mr. Dinosaur.

Don't miss the view

We use Priceline religiously. After checking in at a front desk, our conversation on the way to our room is whether we will have the bad Priceline reserved room next to the elevator or the Priceline reserved room at the farthest corner of the hotel. These unwanted but cheap rooms never have a view - unless you consider a dirty roof with swirling airconditioners and puddles of rainwater a view.

So I don't race to look out the window of a new hotel room. If we're there longer than one night, I might peek out of the curtain, but never have expectations of looking out over the city or onto a sunny beach.

But this Fourth of July we had an amazing view. Despite a rain soaked day, we took the crew to check out the local fireworks. After all the planned activities had already been canceled for the day, we were ready to get out of the house making us about the fifth car to arrive at the fireworks field. After backing the cars onto the grassy, now muddy field, and popping the SUV back doors open, we had a prime (and even dry) view of fireworks.

I think they were more incredible this year than ever maybe because we were in the front row. But our dear Asher who so bravely declared his intent to "sword the fireworks" many times throughout the day spent the entire fireworks display on daddy's lap not daring to look at the view.

Caught up in the loud booms of the fireworks, Asher refused to open his eyes and see that the earth shaking noise made the fireworks even more spectacular.

And then I found myself in a post-holiday/vacation recovery yesterday. Cleaning puddles of poop, rescuing strangers at the pool from being dumped on with a tiny watering can.

And I almost missed the views of a sweet smiley watermelon baby

and a mischievous boy in sunglasses who couldn't be happier.Whatever tomorrow brings, I hope to be consumed with the view rather than distracted by the boom.

A boy, not a Person

When is a person not a person?

When he is a boy, of course!

Yesterday Asher and I were having an in depth discussion about whether or not I am a person. I informed him yes, mommy is a person. Then we were trying to figure out if Daddy is also a person. The conclusion to that question is that no, daddy is a boy and boys are not persons.

I guess in a way he's right. Daddy, a boy, is much more fun than just a regular person.

A boy sits in a tree for an hour pretending to be a bird with his baby bird son. A person stays in the house.

A boy sleeps on an air mattress on the front porch answering non-stop questions from his hammock swinging son during a boy's night camp out. A person gets a good night's rest in her comfy bed.

A boy excavates dinosaurs on the dining room table. A person worries about the mess all that excavating will create.

Although he might not understand them, a boy can handle the emotions that cause girls to scream and fuss. A person simply puts the girl to bed.

As Father's Day approaches, Asher, Amelie, (and me) want to thank Walter for being a boy and not a person!

We love you!

Call me a fortune teller.

Almost ten years ago, I predicted my parent's future.

When they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, we threw a great party for them. As part of the dinner entertainment, my sister, brother, and I performed a song depicting what we believed their life might be like in the future.

And the crazy thing is, that song filled with far-out ideas such as mom and dad living in a far away country is more true than I would ever have believed.

The one part of what I wrote that is least true out of all of the outlandish ideas I introduced is that they are not missionaries on a Caribbean island, but in Ethiopia. Somehow, I missed that vision!

We sung a song of mom pulling mango bars out of the oven. Maybe she doesn't make mango bars, but mom can whip up amazing treats with unknown ingredients while the electricity fades in and out!

Becky was coming to visit them in that song we sang ten years ago, and Becky is actually preparing to travel to Africa in a couple of weeks.

There is one piece of the song that I wrote so long ago which has taken place this week in a almost to the letter manner of accuracy. My dad has started writing a book and has been sending it to me in chunks for editing. I believe in my song, I implied we were faxing the book's edits back and forth, but maybe that will be the next step as his writing is becoming prolific.

Anyone want to see in to their future? Just let me know and I'll write you a song!

After thousands of years of events unfolding according to His sovereign plan, without missing an iota of accuracy, does God feel so excited when plans unfold just as He knew they would?

Tree Climber

Three years later...

Camping Fun

There's nothing like the smell of campfire to start the summer off right! We had such a fun time camping this past weekend with some good friends. By going at this time, we gave Amelie some bragging rights. She will always be able to claim that she is the youngest member of our family to go camping. Asher went when he was about 3 months, and Amelie went at 2 1/2 months. She's got him beat and was a very happy camper!
There aren't a lot of places to lay a baby at a campsite - especially one covered in poison ivy! But she fit just perfect in this chair!

Fireman Asher is very pleased to report that our fire remained only in the firepit. He was a good marshmallow roaster but was most excited just to be near a real fire!

He was also thrilled to be in a sleeping bag. If you ask him his favorite part about camping, he'll flip flop between roasting marshmallows and sleeping in the tent!

The one thing Asher would not say was his favorite part of camping was our little hike. The whole time we hiked, he talked about the mud on the trail making him "very angry." He also insisted that we should get lost in the woods.
As much fun as camping is, it is exhausting! Both kids were happy to sleep in the car while we put away all of our gear. Fun times!!